Whatever acronym you use these days, the mandate is in: sponsorships must be able to be measured in and translated to real business outcomes. Today (via MediaPost) Larry Albus introduces us to the IEG special sauce, "Return on Sponsorship," which should be recommended reading for any sponsorship professional. In his words, "Buyers of sports and other sponsorships must -- and can -- assess their partnerships based on actual outcomes rather than intermediate outputs. Instead of measuring the amount of time a sponsor's logo is visible, ROS measures how, if at all, the visibility impacts fan behavior." Here are the eleven staples of ROS according to Albus (a lot of buzzwords in here so mosey on over to the full post linked above for full explanations):

Measure outcomes not outputs

Define and benchmark objectives on the front end>

Measure return for each objective against pro-rated share of rights fee

Apply the assumptions and ratios used by other departments within your company